Infants

“…the infant has a need which is not simply biological but personal, a need to be in touch with the mother, and in conscious perceptual relation with her.  And it is astonishing at what an early age a baby cries not because of any physiological distress, but because he has noticed that he is alone, and is upset by his mother’s absence.” (Persons, p. 49)

“…the baby is not an animal organism, but a person, or in traditional terms, a rational being.  The reason is that his life, and even his bodily survival, depends upon intentional activity, and therefore upon knowledge.  If nobody intends his survival and acts with intention to secure it, he cannot survive.”

Arguments against abortion that articulate a concern for what a “fetus” might become turn my stomach something terrible.  It is not rationality, size, vocation, contribution, or anything else which makes a human baby worth saving.  It is precisely the opposite.  Our weakness and our dependence on others (especially in the womb!), is the defining attribute of humanity.  Weakness is human, and the child in the womb is weakest of all.